NFL Homecoming begins as Bears retire Mike Ditka's number

Tuesday's health and safety news from the world of football:

• The Associated Press reported on the Chicago Bears' ceremony Monday night to retire Mike Ditka's No. 89. The retirement started the NFL's Homecoming event.

• Brett Favre told the Hattiesburg American that coaching a high school team to a state title was "pretty close" to the feeling of winning a Super Bowl.

* The Associated Press published a study regarding illegal hits in the league this season. The study said that through 11 weeks, there have been 549 penalties -- 491 of which fell under the category of major infractions.

Over the first 162 games of the season, the AP charted 156 penalties involving contact with the head and neck for an average of .962 per game. Thirty-eight of those penalties were for facemasks, 25 were for horse collars and 93 were for hits to the head. Quarterbacks (40) and receivers (38) took most of those blows to the head, and players at other positions accounted for taking the other 15 hits.

• ProFootballTalk reported on a tweet by Miami Dolphins tight end Dustin Keller, who called for the NFL to take action against the low hits that ended his season, as well as one that sidelined New England Patriots tight end Rob Gronkowski for the remainder of 2013.

• Former Oakland Raiders running back Napoleon Kaufman was hired as the new coach at Bishop O'Dowd High School in Oakland, the school announced on Twitter.

• The Cincinnati Enquirer reported that a shopping spree with some Bengals players also was a life lesson for a group of Cincinnati kids.

• The Detroit Free Press looked at a shopping spree Lions players held for some Detroit kids.

• PhiladelphiaEagles.com wrote about how the Eagles presented a grant to Anna Lane School.

• The Gloucester (Mass.) Times reported how Gloucester High School student athletes were undergoing a new type of concussion testing.

• Science Daily reported on an animal study that said repeated head injuries could cause brain cells to go on high alert, causing signs of depression later in life.

-- Bill Bradley, contributing editor